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Brunei defends Islamic laws punishing gay sex with death in letter to European Parliament

Tue 23 Apr 2019, 2:45 PM AEST

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The Sultan of Brunei has led the introduction of harsh anti-LGBT laws in his country.

ABC News: Jarrod Fankhauser

Brunei has written to the European Parliament in a bid to defend its decision to impose the death penalty as punishment for gay sex, which it claims will "safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage".

Key points:

Sharia laws and common system laws will run in parallel, Brunei's mission to the EU wrote

Non-Muslims will not be affected by the new penal code "unless the act of adultery or sodomy is committed with a Muslim"

The European Parliament has since denounced the Muslim-majority sultanate for the "retrograde" laws

In a letter to Members of the European Parliament (MEP) dated April 15, the kingdom's mission to the EU wrote Brunei enforced its own legislation in the interest of preserving its traditional, religious and cultural values, and that there was "no one standard that fits all".

In the letter, the kingdom called for "tolerance and respect" of its sovereignty and values, and said both Sharia laws and the common law systems would run in parallel "to maintain peace and order".

"The criminalisation of adultery and sodomy is to safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage of individual Muslims, particularly women," it said.

"The offences, therefore will not apply to non-Muslims unless the act of adultery or sodomy is committed with a Muslim."

It continued that death by stoning and amputations — imposed for offences of theft, robbery, adultery and sodomy — had an "extremely high evidentiary threshold requiring no less than two or four men of high moral standing and piety as witnesses".

"Similar to the common law system, the presumption of innocence and due process are strictly adhered to in ensuring a just and fair trial," the letter said.

EU condemns 'retrograde' Islamic laws

The European Parliament has denounced the Muslim-majority sultanate in the wake of the letter, adopting a resolution to "strongly condemn the entry into force of the retrograde Sharia Penal Code" and urging Bruneian authorities to "immediately" repeal it.

The measure was passed on a show of hands, the parliament said in a statement.